Prison-alarm



3 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. 0. HILLS.

Fris an Alarm. No. 21,339. Patented Aug. 31. 1858.

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'Prisbn Alarm.

No. 21,339. Patented Au 31. 1858.

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WILLIAM O. HILLS, OF NOTTINGHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

PRISON-ALARM.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,339, dated August 31, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM O. HILLS, of Nottingham, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Prison-Alarm Apparatus;

and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, of which Figure, 1, denotes a top view; Fig. 2, a

side elevation, and Fig. 3, a front elevation of it. Fig. 4, is a vertical section taken through the air pump and the piston of the air receiver. Fig. 5, is a longitudinal section of the hollow grating, to be hereinafter described. The nature of my invention may be said to consist in making the gratings of either a prison door or window, tubular or hollow and air tight, and combining therewith, and in such manner, an air forcing pump or an air exhaust pump, a cylinder and its elastic diaphragm, or piston or their equivalents, and an alarm apparatus of some kind, that should an attempt be made to sever or saw off one of the bars of the grating, the escape of air through the orifice made or the inrush of air into the same shall cause the piston either to be raised or lowered so as to set oif or put in operation the alarm apparatus and give or sound an alarm and thus prevent the escape of a prisoner, or an attempt to cause his escape from the prison.

In carrying out my invention I make the grating A, of a window or door opening B, as the case may be, in part or in whole of tubes, at, a, a, (4, whose ends I unite by tubular or other chambered connections, 6, Z), 5, or, c, in such manner that there may be a communication from one tube into the other. By means of a pipe, (Z, I connect the tubular grating with the lower part of a cylinder or barrel, C, closed at bottom, open at top, and having a piston or elastic diaphragm D, arranged in it or across it as shown in Fig. 4, the rod, 6, of the piston or diaphragm being sustained in suitable guides, f, 9. To the cylinder, O, I apply an air pump, E, in such manner as to enable air, either to be injected into or withdrawn from the cylinder or the space thereof below its piston or diaphragm.

Should the air pump be a forcing pump when it is in operation air will be thrown into the cylinder and from thence into the tubular grating and by its condensation will cause the piston or diaphragm to rise in the cylinder. The reverse should take place should the air pump, be an exhaust pump that is to say, the air both from the grating and the cylinder will be withdrawn, whereby the pressure of the atmosphere willcause the piston or diaphragm to descend within the cylinder. Next, with respect to the said diaphragm or its rod, I apply an alarm apparatus of such kind and in such manner as that either the elevation of the diaphragm (or its equivalent) or its depression, induced under circumstances as described above, a hole is made in the tubular grating shall set in action the said alarm apparatus.

From the above, or from what follows, I do not mean to be understood that the air apparatus used is to be of such nature or construction as to be capable of operating so as to either compress air into or exhaust it from the tubular grating, but it is to be made so as to be capable of performing one of these functions only, that it is to be either an air compressing or an air exhausting apparat-us. It is possible, that the apparatus may be constructed so as to be capable of performing the two functions, viz., that of compressing the air as well as of exhausting it.

In the drawings, I have shown at, H, an ordinary clock alarm apparatus, of which, 72-, denotes the bell and, 2', the hammer. The said hammer is arranged direct-1y over the top of the piston or depression rod and extends from the escapement, 7c, of the alarm apparatus.

When air is forced into the cylinder and tubular grating itwill cause the piston or diaphragm rod to rise and force the hammer upward in a manner to preventthe alarm apparatus, in case of its having been wound up from going into operation so as to sound an alarm. Now, should an attempt be made to saw through one of the grating bars, as soon as a hole is made in it the air will rush out of the hole and the piston or diaphragm rod will fall away from the hammer. The alarm apparatus will then be free to act and will be set in operation.

Should the pump be an exhaust pump a spring might be applied to the piston, so as to operate against the pressure of the atmosphere, in which case the hammer shank might extend through a long slot made through the said rod and so arranged therein, that the descent of the piston or diaphragm should draw the hammer down upon the bell and prevent the alarm works from setting the hammer in action upon the bell in a manner to sound an alarm. these circumstances if a hole were made in one of the grate bars, the air would rush into the grating and from thence into the cylinder; the piston or diaphragm would be raised by the spring and the alarm would be sounded. Fig. 6, will serve to show such an application of the piston or diaphragm rod and the spring, a, in such figure being the spring, 6, the rod and, I, the hammer.

It will be evident that instead of that described, other kinds of alarm apparatus may be applied to the diaphragm or piston of the cylinder. Also, that the receiving vessel and diaphragm or piston may be modified in construction or an equivalent might be employed. One equivalent of such would be an air tight bag so applied to the alarm hammer as to produce effects thereon as above described or others analogous thereto. It will be evident that my invention may be applied to the doors of bank vaults, or merchants money safes, provided such doors be constructed chambered, tubular or in any other similar manner. I have however designed it more especially for prison doors and Windows where it will be found to be of great utility.

'All the tubular gratings of the doors and windows of a prison may be connected by pipes so as to allow of one alarm apparatus being used, and this latter may be placed in Under some convenient position where its alarm would be heard by the prison keeper or others in case any person should attempt to saw through any one of the tubular bars of a grating.

Gratings for prison doors or windows can be constructed very cheaply when my invention is to be employed in connection with them, as they may be made of ordinary iron tubes such as are termed gas tubing. It is very possible that they may be manufactured on my plan for a much less sum than the ordinary bar gratings such as have been heretofore used.

To render it certain that the window gratings and the cylinder of the piston of the alarm apparatus are kept duly charged with or exhausted of air, an ordinary pressure or a vacuum gage may be applied to them according as the case may require.

My invention and what I claim consists 1n The tubular or chambered window or door grating an alarm apparatus and an air pump or apparatus as described or the equivalent therefor, combined so as to operate together substantially in manner and for the purpose as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature.

WM. 0. HILLS. Witnesses:

GEO. J. SMITH, JAY TUTTLE. V7 

